JEAN-CLAUDE Juncker is plotting a huge raid on EU member states’ tax revenues in a desperate bid to plug a £11.5billion gap in the bloc’s budget left by Britain after Brexit, as divisions continue over Brussels financial plans.

However, European Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger insisted yesterday they would have no choice but to pay up.

He said: “Now, I am no magician, ladies and gentlemen. We will only be able to square the circle with more.

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Jean-Claude Juncker is making demands

“We won’t be able to with what we currently have.

“And that is why I believe that no matter what the starting position is, the end position of a given government can be different.”

To put pressure on countries like Poland, the commission wants money from the next budget to be conditional on states respecting the rule of law and independence of courts.

The commission also outlined several options for funding of joint new projects like an EU border management system, which in its full form would cost about €150bn euros over seven years.

A stepped-up student exchange programme could set the budget back €90bn if one in three young people were given the opportunity to learn abroad.

The most ambitious approach to research and development spending would be to double the amount earmarked for it to €160bn, which would create 650,000 new jobs by 2040 and boost EU GDP as well, the commission said.